The theme of sliding SDSU players continued after the first round, with forward Malcolm Thomas – a middle second-round choice in almost every mock draft – falling completely out of the second round into the uncertainty of free agency.

The self-effacing Thomas put this on his Twitter page after the Sacramento Kings took 5-10 guard Isaiah Thomas of Washington with the 60th and final pick:

Im sorry SD...i let yall down

But not being drafted sometimes isn’t the worst eventuality, since it means you can try out for the NBA team with the biggest holes at your position – and since there is no guaranteed money in the second round anyway.

“I feel badly for Malcolm,” Fisher said. “I was hopeful he would be drafted. But Malcolm has a future in basketball, whether it’s over in Europe or in the NBA. We’ll have to wait and see. Malcolm has to lift his head up and say, ‘It’s going turn out to be a better situation for him.’”

For inspiration, he needs look no further than his former Aztecs teammate.

Fisher admitted it.

“It was a little unnerving,” he said of the draft’s first 15 picks.

In the run-up to Thursday, NBA.com collected mock drafts from a dozen different respected “experts.” Leonard was a solid lottery pick on all of them and outside the top 10 on just two.

But one prediction about this draft – that it would be wildly unpredictable – held true. After Duke’s Kyrie Irving, Arizona’s Derrick Williams and Turkish center Enes Kanter went 1-2-3, form surrendered to prognosticating futility.

The first curveball was Cleveland taking Texas post Tristan Thompson at No. 4, a move some considered a reach. Then Toronto took Lithuania’s Jonas Valanciunas at No. 5, apparently not scared off by reports of a contract buyout that will keep him in Europe for another season.

A three-team trade between Sacramento, Charlotte and Milwaukee further muddied the waters, and soon Leonard was in a free fall. Once Charlotte took UConn guard Kemba Walker at No. 9, Leonard was in uneasy territory where the teams drafting had not seen him in a private workout.

Leonard had worked out for the teams with the fifth through ninth picks, even cancelling a scheduled session with Milwaukee, which went 10th, at the last moment.

But the Spurs?

They never had a private workout with Leonard, but they were among the teams that interviewed him during the NBA draft combine in Chicago last month. And Brian Elfus, Leonard’s agent, said San Antonio “reached out over the last 24 hours” about trading up.

“I had a meeting with them, and I got a great vibe from them,” Leonard told media in Newark. “Just any team I’m on, I’m happy with right now … I got picked to be on an NBA team. I worked hard. I finally accomplished my dream now, but it’s not over yet.

“I’ve got a lot of work to do to make an impact in the league.”

Tyler goes to Warriors

Former San Diego High standout Jeremy Tyler, who left high school after his junior year to play professionally and competed in Israel and Japan, was drafted by Charlotte in the second round, the 39th pick overall. He was immediately traded to Golden State.